𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

Untitled Part 21

A small girl's scream was heard outside of Ura's door, the kunoichi nearly fell from her bed to see why the scream was heard, but mainly to yell at whoever was disturbing her peace this time. Stumbling to the door, Ura slammed it open to see a pair of big, tan eyes staring right back at her own. The girl was held by the wrist by Baki, who was working in Gaara's shrine to pay back some old debt, her light tan skin being bruised by him.

"I apologize for this brat awakening you, but the slave is being sent for her punishment for not obeying my rules," Baki said to Ura, while squeezing harder on her wrist as he shoved the girl to Ura, "Apologize now, you piece of crap."
"Sorry..." the girl looked around 5 or 6 years old, but she looked down at Ura's feet.

"Baki...go easy on her, she's just a kid," Ura felt bad for the little kid, "I'll talk to her so you can pay off the rest of your debt."

"Fine..." Baki shoved the girl to the ground as he walked off.

Ura picked up the little girl to her feet, then got on her knees, "What's your name, child?"

"Leila..." the little girl was a bit shy as Ura treated the kid with kindness.

From the looks of it, Leila had a few bruises on her face, and on her arms, meaning she was either beaten or was working very hard. But the thing was, Leila looked awfully familiar, Ura had sworn she had seen the kid before, but didn't remember where. Ura stood up, took Leila's hand, and guided her to Ura's room, there were some questions Ura had to ask. Leila's hair was tied back in a tight braid, her hair was dark brown with a few strands of blonde in them. Ura sat Leila down on her bed and Ura sat in a mahogany chair Kankurou had made for her, "My name is Ura, i'm a kunoichi that lives and works under the Kazekage. Do you know who the Kazekage is?"

Leila nodded, "Gaara..."

"Your right, now... Were you in trouble with Baki for not obeying his orders?" Ura asked, trying not to set the girl off in a tantrum.

Little Leila shifted her gaze everywhere but Ura's gaze, her hands fumbled with Ura's sheets, and she began to kick her feet lightly together. Ura was taught how to read anxiety on anyone in her years as a Genin after coming home, and Leila was showing every little sign panic and worriedness. The little girl looked downward, her eyes everted back to Ura's eyes, "I...I tried to runaway..."

"Why? What hurts so bad to make you want to leave?" Ura asked as she eyed Leila even more thuroughly.

"Because...my mommy and daddy died a month ago...leaving me here to work as a slave... I wanted to leave because I wouldn't be so alone in a different village," Leila began to tear up, "I want my mommy and daddy again..."

Ura was not fit to be a mother, she didn't even like little kids that much, but..when she saw Leila's tan eyes, she could feel an instant connection with the child. Leila tried to hold back her tears, but was unable, so Ura walked over to Leila and picked her up, holding her against her right shoulder, "Go on..let it out..."

To her own dismay, Ura knew exactly how Leila felt, entrapped in this village, unable to leave without being dragged back. The feeling where you are forced to live each day knowing you are stuck there, never able to leave and go on with your own life... Such a deep, empty feeling, like you have no purpose in life at all... This mere child that Ura held was exactly how Ura wanted to be as a young Genin, to cry of all the lonliness without her family, to only be supported because you were needed on a team. But it was going to be different for her, now that Gaara saw how she felt and she was going to try to fall back in love with him, things might turn out for the best.

"Ura..."

Ura held the child on her hip like any other woman would, she looked at Ura with a gentle look, "Yes?"

"I don't like Baki..."

Now that was something Ura could also relate, she hated Baki before, but she was used to him now that he was taking orders from her. Ura laughed a little bit at the 'fond' memories of the younger Ura wanting to cut out Baki's throat as he slept. But, Ura sat the girl back on her bed, "I know exactly how you feel, Leila...and I promise you, it gets better later on."

Leila looked at Ura, who still had that friendly, sisterly smile on her face, which brought Leila her own hopeful smile. The child wiped away her tears, but then Ura came to her conclusion, there was no way Leila, who reminded Ura of her own self, was going to stay a slave. Ura picked up Leila, and went straight to the big-man himself... The Sand Kunoichi opened the door to see Gaara finishing up some paperwork, he was surprised that she had came to him this time...with a child...

Gaara saw the familiarities between the two females, and he was wondering of dangerous thoughts that entered his mind. Though he was curious to why they had the same eyes and hair, he would ask them in private, not when the child was around, "Is there a reason you decided to come this afternoon?"

"This child is in slavery to your home, and i'm willing to take her under my wing for support until she is of age to carry her own life without me," Ura lowered Leila to the floor, "I'm willing to accept any debt that she has and pay it as my own."

Though Gaara didn't want to have Ura busy with a small kid to worry about, and he didn't want her to side track from her own missions, he could see that Ura wouldn't take no for an answer. Besides, he would allow the child to stay with them, so the servents can help take care of her as well. Gaara eyed the small child, "Go ahead... I will have a tailor fit her for more..decent clothing."

Ura's eyes lighted up at his agreement, so she smiled at the little girl, "See? Things are looking better for you already. Now come, we need to get you cleaned up and treat those bruises."

Leila smiled from cheek-to-cheek, and than ran to that bathrooms she had to clean before, but Ura stayed behind, wanting to discuss the matter of a child living under Gaara's roof with the Kazekage. Ura shut the office door as Gaara leaned against the front of his desk, a grave look in his face, "From what i've seen of you, you're not the one that a child can call 'mother'... So why are you adopting this mere girl that was born into the life of slavery?"

"Because there is still hope for her, Lord Kazekage, that mere child is on the path to greatness if someone just listened to her," Ura said with a calm tone, not wanting to be even more exhausted from anger or yelling.

"Meaning...you see yourself in her?" Gaara crossed his arms, though he allowed Leila to stay, he did not want that child to interfier with his work.

"Yes. And if she becomes bothersome, i'll make sure she and I will live in a different home," Ura assured Gaara, "But back to your first comment, i'm not determined to become her mother, once she can go on with her life, I plan on detaching her from my life for good. I am merely here to guide Leila to a fulfilled life."

Gaara shook his head slightly, "You will get too attached to her, and once you try to let her go, you will be incapable of doing so. I will allow her to stay, but in a room next to your own, and I will have other children play with her so she can fit in. But you have your own obligations as a Sand Kunoichi, and if you fail to go on missions, then I must demote you back to being a Chunin."

Though Gaara and Ura had an understanding between each other, he was still the Kazekage and she was still a Jonin. They could be lovers for years and years, but the ranking system of the ninja meant that every individual person acted like their own ranking, even if it means threatening the one you love. Ura knew that well enough to not be offended by Gaara's threat, he was only looking out for her as a true shinobi would. Their eyes met in a dead lock, confirming the agreement about little Leila, and confirming that Ura was totally exhausted and wanted to get Leila to bed so she, too, could sleep. Gaara noticed her tan eyes droop, "I'll have one of the servents bathe the child, you go rest."

"No, that won't due at all," Ura balanced herself against the door, "Leila will be uncomfortable and she wants me to bathe her, it won't take long...just an hour or two to get the sand out of her hair."

By the looks of the struggling kunoichi, Gaara would not permit Ura to strain herself any longer than she already had. Before she was about to slide the office door open, Gaara appeared behind her and grabbed her wrist softly, but firmly, "Go to bed...i'll have a maid wash the child."

Ura wanted to care for Leila, but...she was so tired, so Ura gave into Gaara's command with a slight nod of her head. Gaara released his grip from around her wrist, allowing her to walk, but then said for only her to hear, "Sleep well."

The kunoichi walked to her bedroom, finally able to get some rest after enduring such a long day. Her sheets never felt softer, her pillow never felt so warm, and the room never felt so empty before. A lot has happened in just one day, coming home, Gaara telling her he knew about her feelings and that he would win her over all over again, and now little Leila entered her life. Everything was happening so fast, and she couldn't stop time to just take a breather.

Then, her thoughts reached out to the Uchiha, what he was doing, if he was thinking of her... Ura shook her head, though she enjoyed her time with Sasuke, he was not the one for her. Of all her dreams of being the wife of a man, she always felt that Gaara could provide her the happiness she wanted, even a few days ago she felt the same. Though the flame for Gaara had become so tiny and insignificant, it was still there, burning strong. Ura looked up at the dark ceiling of her room, how was she going to inform Gaara, if she ever loved him as strongly again, that she was not pure anymore? How would he react to the fact that she had slept frequently with Kankurou, every other week, and had been in the Uchiha's bed only once? She sighed, Gaara would be disheartened and would want to wreak havoc with Kankurou and Sasuke. So Ura came to the conclusion that Gaara was to not know the past lovers she had.

**Gaara**

Even at midnight, his office was still lit up with paperwork that needed to be done, but Gaara, too, was thinking about the day that had come and gone. His thoughts was on the kunoichi that he claimed he will win over again, but he didn't know how. Gaara had mastered the art of killing, war, and how to run a village as a Kazekage, but winning a heart of a woman? That was a big HELL NO, Gaara was never attracted to the fairer sex, he had gotten very used to the isolation and constant work to not care about his sexual life. Though, at times, he did have slight cravings to have sweaty, nude skin against his own, that urge would leave as quickly as it came.

Gaara sat in the corner of his office, he had heard the child being sent to her own room from one of his maids, an old lady that adored children. His thoughts lingered to his own children one day...but, that thought may never happen because he was so timid about driving Ura away again. The Kazekage needed help, and the one person he knew that could get any woman he wanted was Kankurou, but Gaara didn't want to bang Ura, he wanted to merely gain her heart.

What made him so attractive to her before? What had caught her eyes when they were only Genin? Was it his bad-ass atittude towards the world? That couldn't be it, Gaara didn't understand Ura at all, she had loved him for some reason before, but he didn't know what! What did he have to do? Seducing her wouldn't work, to him, Ura held herself higher than most women, saving herself until marriage, but that was what he thought. Gaara wondered if she had any other lovers before...it only seemed logical that she was always alone, so maybe she may have one or two...

The Kazekage lightly shook that thought from his head, that didn't sound like the Ura that he knew, it just couldn't be. Ura was a highly respectable kunoichi that put important matters first, and sexual attraction later, there was no way Ura had past lovers that Gaara didn't know about. To get those thoughts from his head, Gaara stood up and went out of his mansion, walking through the stone garden in the back of his home. The warm, partly cool, desert night air warped Gaara to more pleasent thoughts about the woman he admired. Before he had found out that she was the woman for him, he hadn't noticed how her eyes matched perfectly with the sand, and how her pale skin was untouched by the violent sun above. Or how her hair waved with a beautiful, rhythmic pattern when the wind ripped through. Gaara had never wittnessed such natural beauty before, but it wasn't her outer skin that he admired, it was her independence.

In a way, Gaara was grateful that she didn't want to love him, it made her more cold, bitter, to the point where she told him how it was going to be. That trait just made her more desireable, it made her more of a challenge, rather than an easy catch. Gaara leaned against one of the northern rocks, could he say he was falling in love with Ura. Love... The one word that hadn't existed in his life before, but now..it was love that consumed him, he loved Ura, and Gaara would do anything in his power to have Ura to himself.

"What're you doing up so late, Gaara?"

Kankurou approached Gaara from behind, the puppet ninja looked like he rustled in the sand with some lonely woman, but looked rested for a few more hours. Gaara eyed his brother, then said, "How do you win a woman's heart?"

"Excuse me?" Kankurou didn't really expect to EVER hear that from Gaara's mouth, "Win a woman's heart? Are you talking about Ura?"

Gaara nodded, "That would be the only woman i'd ever talk about with that question, all the other women are not good enough."

"Well..." Kankurou didn't really know for sure, but he was positive that he could give some good advice to his little brother, "I think you should start by respecting her space, let Ura come to you. She already knows that you care about her-"

"I love her."

Silence... Kankurou was surprised to hear that statement clearly from Gaara, it was just so unexpected of him to feel that strong to say it aloud to anyone. Any animosity towards Gaara, that Kankurou had felt before, had all disappeared. Kankurou then had the ability to speak, "Ok... Since you went that far in your emotions, then it should be easier throughout your path to getting her to you. But, believe me, Ura has this wall of bitterness that she puts up when anyone, even you now, gets way too close for comfort."

"That can easily be broken," Gaara commented, "She knows now that I mean to never cease to desist on my pursuit of her."

"That's all fine and dandy, but really, Ura packs a hard punch, and she's not afraid to tell anyone how it is. She has only gone very easy on you because she wanted to just get away, but now that Ura is going to begin to feel love all over again, she'll want more distance and independence," Kankurou explained.

Gaara took much heed into his brother's information, Kankurou and Ura had always been very close to one another, soon they became unseperable for a long time. The Kazekage had heard some very nasty rumors about how close his brother and Ura were, but he didn't hear into that, nor did he ever want to now. That one question popped into Gaara's mind, he would get the honest truth from Kankurou, Gaara had Kankurou on the spot, "Did you ever admire Ura? More than just a friend?"

Kankurou looked at Gaara, truthfully, he had grown to love and admire Ura, but in a totally different way than Gaara's. The puppet Jonin loved Ura in a more sisterly way, though he had banged her at least five times in the last few months. He shook his head, "Can't say I have, she's more like family to me than just some woman I want to knock-up."

Something bothered Gaara about that pause, but he shrugged it off, it wasn't important, but he still wanted to know more about how to get Ura...